Suspect in three-hour standoff arraigned

Tad DeWulf, who was arraigned on charges of home invasion and resisting police following a three-hour standoff with police on Thursday, reacts Friday to learning his bond is $500,000.(Photo: Lisa Roose-Church/Livingston Daily)

A Genesee County man accused of violating a personal protection order and entering a Pinckney woman’s home says the charges are baseless because he was invited to the home.

Tad Spencer DeWulf also told a Livingston County magistrate during his video arraignment Friday afternoon that he could not violate a PPO because one had not been served.

“I don’t understand how I’m being charged,” the 45-year-old Genesee Township man said, appearing agitated as he gestured with his hands.

“I had permission to be there. (The complainant) called me. I didn’t do anything,” DeWulf said.

Pinckney police allege DeWulf entered the woman’s Cricket Crossing home around 8:30 a.m. Thursday without permission and locked himself inside, ignoring calls to surrender. He was arrested peacefully after a three-hour standoff with police.

DeWulf was charged as a habitual offender with first-degree home invasion, aggravated stalking and resisting police. He faces up to life in prison if he is convicted as charged. He buried his face in his hands when Magistrate Jerry Sherwood set a $500,000 bond.

DeWulf, who asked for a court-appointed attorney, returns to District Court in Howell on Nov. 7 for a preliminary exam conference.

“I don’t understand the resisting and obstruction charge,” he told Sherwood. “I didn’t do anything, but come out and lay on the ground, sir. That’s all I did.”

Chief Jeff Newton of the Pinckney Police Department told the magistrate that he had been called to the Cricket Crossing home on Monday due to a “domestic complaint” against DeWulf.

During that investigation, Newton learned there was a PPO against DeWulf, but it had not been served.

“During the course of that incident, I orally served him the PPO order, and he was advised that, if he returned to the address, he would be placed under arrest,” Newton said. “Mr. (DeWulf) denied that the verbal serving was adequate and said he’d be back.”

Newton said as a result, police began routinely patrolling complainant’s neighborhood, and, on Thursday, he spotted DeWulf’s 2003 Ford F-150 parked in the complainant’s driveway.

Newton and Unadilla Township Police Chief David Russell attempted to knock on the door at the home. No one answered, though they heard noise from inside the home.

The two police chiefs learned the complainant failed to show up for work and assumed she was “in the house and possibly being held against her will, and may be in danger.”

The Special Response Team was called, and, after about 90 minutes, officers attempted to enter a back door as the woman left the home on her own free will.

“Mr. DeWulf ignored calls to surrender and went back into the home, locking himself in the home,” Newton said. “She said she woke in the early morning hours to find Tad DeWulf inside the home.”

The complainant told police that she felt “she must have left the door unlocked” after returning home from having dinner with her children.

Newton said DeWulf surrendered peacefully after an estimated 50-minute conversation.

“He claimed police were the enemy and he’d be assaulted.”

Chief Jeff Newton of Pinckney Police Department

Sherwood asked Newton about the resisting police charge, and the chief said DeWulf refused to surrender at the door.

“He was refusing to come out,” Newton said. “He claimed police were the enemy and he’d be assaulted.”

Sherwood told DeWulf he set bond so high because he is a habitual offender facing life in prison, and he is alleged to have assaulted a police officer.

DeWulf’s criminal history includes a 1992 conviction for possession of a short-barreled rifle and two counts of resisting police. His record also includes a 2004 conviction for interfering with a police investigation and threatening to kill or injury a person.

“I’ve never failed to appear before, your honor,” DeWulf said.

“It’s also my understanding that you had notice of a PPO and you ignored that,” Sherwood replied.

“That was never served to me,” DeWulf said before leaving the arraignment room.